Phrasal Verbs

beef up

This page is about the phrasal verb beef up

Meaning

to make something stronger or more powerful

Synonym

strengthen, boost

For example

  • beef up sth The government decided to beef up security after a terrorist attack on the country's biggest airport.

  • beef sth up We've been letting the opposition teams score too many goals, so we need to beef our defence up a bit.

Nouns often used as objects with beef up: security, armed forces, police force, workforce, sales department, defence, attack

Quick Quiz

Because of recent robberies, gold shops have decided to beef up security and hire

a. more sales staff

b. more butchers

c. more guards
a) more sales staff b) more butchers c) more guards
beef up

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1000 Phrasal Verbs in Context

Contributor: Matt Errey